Right Where I Belong
by ceavie
Summary: SPOILERS UNTIL CH.6 (Hugo x FemMC) Like a switch in his head that was suddenly flipped, Hugo's whole body twitched slightly, sudden warmth and desire to run towards his old friend and pull her into his arms threatening to overcome him. It was in that moment that Hugo realised something: He was undeniably and utterly in love with her.


**WARNING**:

This story contains spoilers for God Eater 3, up to the end of Chapter 6. I know my writing isn't the best and Hugo is probably a bit OOC but I just love him and the MC so much together. Please also note that the POV switches between both Hugo and Leah (my name for the MC). I might rewrite the ending to this story at one point as I am not too happy with it. Maybe I'll even add some more chapters, who knows. For now, enjoy!

* * *

Hugo couldn't keep his eyes off her. The way her whole body shifted as she ran towards the falling form, how her eyes widened at the realisation that it really was Phym, how she stood there with her arms wide open, prepared to catch the little girl.

_That smile._

The smile of true and utter joy when she turned around to them, cradling Phym in her arms. To see this side of her, of just raw emotion, acting on nothing but pure instinct was something he hasn't seen her do before in all the years that they have known each other.

Like a switch in his head that was suddenly flipped, Hugo's whole body twitched slightly, sudden warmth and desire to run towards his old friend and pull her into his arms threatening to overcome him. It was a strange feeling. Different than anything else before. His stomach felt queesy and his face hot. It was in that moment that Hugo realised something:

He was undeniably and utterly in love with Leah.

The woman that stood there before them, having fought countless battles alongside him, being the only positive constant in his life.. The only person he could always count on, no matter what, who would always have his back. Who slayed hundreds of monsters, who rarely let her carefully put together mask of a tough killer slip.. That same woman now gave them the biggest smile he had ever seen, tears slightly glistening in the corners of her eyes. She stood there, covered in dirt and blood, exhausted mentally and physically from the battle but looking so breathtakingly beautiful, an aura of relief and joy surrounding her, that it took Hugo a few seconds to force himself out of his own thoughts and back to reality.

Together with the others he joined Leah who was still holding on to Phym for dear life. Her eyes found Hugo's and there was an unspoken moment that passed between them. Her was gaze boring into his, displaying a kind of emotion Hugo couldn't really place yet, too confused and overwhelmed with the sudden realisation just how much he adored this woman.

He had to swallow down the urge to lunge forward and pull her into a hug, to make sure she was alright, to kiss her and show her how stupid he had been to not realise how much she meant to him sooner.

And god was it hard for him to suppress that.

„Let's go home." He said instead, knowing that this was neither the right place nor the right time to act on theses desires.

He gave his friend a reassuring smile and followed the other Hounds back to the base.

* * *

Once they all made it back to the Crysanthemum, Hilda and the others were already waiting for them, welcoming them with cheering faces and warm hugs.

While everyone was already getting ready for a well deserved celebration, preparing various foods and drinks, Leah quietly made her way to the girl's quarter, Phym trailing behind her. She ushered the little girl to one of the beds and told her to lie down and rest.

„Mommy, promise you will wake me up for the party?" she asked, staring at Leah with big red eyes.

Leah smiled warmly at her. „Of course. Now promise me you'll be a good girl and rest for a few hours."

A loving pat on the head and a kiss on the forehead later and the Aragami girl was fast asleep.

„She must be exhausted.." Leah muttered to herself as she stood up.

„You must be exhausted as well." came a low voice behind her. She knew that voice all to well.

Hugo.

Slowly she turned around, a slow smile tugging at the corners of her lips. He was stood leaning against the door, arms crossed in front of his chest, studying her with a raised eyebrow. She knew that look all too well.

„I am. Not enough to pass on the celebration though." She said with a lazy smirk.

Hugo smiled at that. He has always loved this side of her. No, who was he kidding.. He has always loved all of her. How she was loving and caring, not afraid to give her life for the people that mattered to her. How she was fierce and sarcastic, precious _yet __deadly_.

„What are you doing here?" she asked him, breaking his train of thought. She was still standing in front of the bed Phym was sleeping in peacefully.

„I wanted to check up on you after you suddenly vanished. Make sure you were okay."

A confused look settled on her face.

„Of course I am okay, why —„

_„Leah."_ Hugo interrupted her, and his voice suddenly sounded serious and slightly desperate. He had to tell her. She needed to know how he felt. **He** needed her to know.

* * *

She looked at her friend in confusion.

„Hugo, what—"

The words got stuck in her throat as Hugo looked up and his eyes stared straight at into hers. They were filled with unspoken desperation and desire and Leah's own eyes widened as realisation dawned on her.

Both of them came closer than ever to loosing what was most dear to them today. Their lives. Phym's life. Their family's life. The sheer gravity of the situation only hit her then, with Hugo staring like the only thing that mattered to him was that both her and Phym were alive. Another moment passed between them and Leah became painfully aware of how sudden the mood in the room had shifted. The air around them felt charged with electricity and her fingers started to tingle. Anticipation was building up in her stomach because deep down she knew what was going to happen. She has known Hugo for years. Since she can remember, really. There have been many situation where looks or touches lingered just a little too long to be normal. Worry and affection that she didn't feel with everyone.

She wasn't sure what happened first or what made her move in the first place. Maybe it was the near death experience just moments before, maybe it was almost losing a loved one. But in two long strides she had crossed the room and threw her arms around Hugo's neck.

It didn't even take a second and his lips came crashing down on hers. It was an uncoordinated and desperate mess of lips colliding and tongues invading each other's mouths. Hugo's hands gripped her head, clinging on to both sides for dear life while her own hands were tightening around Hugo's neck, pushing them impossibly closer.

There was nothing romantic about this kiss. There was no softness, no patience. Only pure and raw need. It felt like everything had been leading up to this moment. This moment where they were both too exhausted to fight it, having been just that much closer to facing death.

As Hugo's tongue slipped into her mouth again, a small, needy sound escaped the back of her throat. That sound seemed to have send him over the edge completely.

* * *

_God, she was driving him insane._

Almost instantly he started to tug at her uniform, trying to free her of the jacket hanging loosely around her shoulders, only held in place by a few bits of black tape. As the jacket fell to the floor and Hugo's hands brushed over her exposed shoulders, another small moan escaped her.

_„Hugo.."_ Leah breathed against his hot mouth, bringing her hands up to his chest, applying just the tiniest bit of pressure.

Hugo's hands stopped and he closed his eyes as he leaned his forehead against hers.

_„I know."_ he whispered.

They shouldn't be doing this here. Not now, with Phym sleeping behind them. They both knew, yet neither of them made any move to pull away.

* * *

Leah could feel Hugo's breath hot on her face, his smell invading her nose and being so wonderfully familiar and safe that when he opened his eyes again and met her own, she searched his face for a brief moment before leaning in again and closing the distance between them.

Though it wasn't as rough and desperate as before, the hunger in both their movements was still evident. Over and over did their lips meet and when Leah opened hers to let Hugo's blissfully hot tongue in, the latter felt the last bit of self restraint leave his body.

His hands, still on either side of Leah's shoulders, now tightened their grip and sharply spun her around. He pushed her back into the wall and devoured her lips, hands all over her body. Needy. Desperate. **Wanting.**

Leah buried her hands in his silken black locks and gripped almost painfully tight as Hugo's teeth sunk into her neck. She threw her head back and had to suppress another moan while holding onto Hugo like he was the only thing keeping her knees from giving out. The thought that he was just as desperate for this to happen as her made Leah's mind spin. This was something neither of them had ever even entertained the thought of. Too dire their situation, too dangerous their life. But damn did she not care at this moment. While Hugo was eagerly sucking on her neck, coaxing various needy sounds out of her, Leah pressed herself into his body, sudden desire to feel his hands everywhere overcoming her rational train of thought.

A barely audible but definitely there yawn shocked them both into reality again. Hugo froze while she slowly peaked over his shoulder at the sleeping form still wrapped up in a blanket on the bed. Phym let out another yawn before turning her back to them and getting into another comfortable position.

„Still asleep.." Leah signed with relief.

Hugo chuckled.

„What?" she asked and leaned back a little, trying to see the expression on his face but Hugo's head was still buried in her neck, his eyes and mouth hidden in her hair.

„Nothing... I just never thought I'd see the day where you'd let yourself get pushed back into a wall by a man. Me, no less."

He lifted his head and smirked lazily at her. Slightly offended at first, she pouted and wanted to give him a playful punch to the arm but just then his expression changed and the look of slight amusement transformed into one of pure adoration as he let his eyes wander over her face, her tousled hair, the slightly ragged clothing until he looked straight into the eyes again. His gaze left a hot, tingly trail on her skin and she became aware of their position and would have happened had Phym's yawn not interrupted them.

„Leah.." Hugo whispered, bringing one hand up to her face to push a few silver strands of hair back behind her ear.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the door burst open and he stepped away from her in an instant. Rushing in came Zeke, hair full of glitter and what looked to be confetti stuck to his clothes.

„GUYS!" he yelled, not even registering the dishevelled state his two friends were in.

„Hilda and the others are done with most of the prepping so you need to come down to celebrate. There's cake dude. Cake!" he exclaimed cheerily, turning around to leave again. „Oh, and don't forget to bring Phym!" he added with a laugh, making his way back to the elevator.

The excitement in his voice was most likely the reason he was oblivious to the obvious and Leah turned around to see Hugo look both parts annoyed and amused at the same time. With a grin she shoved him slightly and said „Let's continue this later. First we celebrate!"

She could feel Hugo's eyes follow her as she made her way over to Phym to wake the small girl up from her slumber.

„Stop staring. It's rude." She said in a playfully rude tone of voice and grinned at him over her shoulder.

* * *

He laughed at her remark and came to stand beside her while shaking his head.

„The things you do to me..." he muttered to himself, kneeling down to gently nudge Phym awake.

„M-mommy..?" Phym's big round eyes seemed to first focus on Leah but as soon as she saw him sitting beside her, she exclaimed happily: „Daddy is here too!" That statement made Hugo shut his mouth and had him look away in embarrassment. Having her address both of them as their parents together hasn't happened before and especially after their heated exchange of saliva this was something he wasn't really prepared for. A small blush formed on his face but one glance at Leah's expression gave Hugo the peace of mind that he wasn't the only one taken aback.

„Come on Phym, the party downstairs is about to start, you don't want to miss that, right?" he said to break the slightly awkward silence.

Smiling, the little Aragami girl hopped out of the bed, taking both his and Leah's hand in her tiny ones, draging them to the door. She was so excited and energetic that you wouldn't have thought that she almost died a few hours ago. The thought left a sour taste in Hugo's mouth but when he felt Leah look at him, he forced himself to smile and continued walking towards the elevator alongside them.

* * *

The party was a full success. There was plenty of food, drinks balloons and, as Zeke promised, cake. Phym was laughing and playing with the other kids, forgetting at least for a fleeting moment that she wasn't quite like them.

Leah watched the scene with a fond smile on her face as she noticed Hugo leave the room out of the corner of her eyes. He went out to the Bridge and leaned on the railing, with his arms supporting his weight.

Leah followed him after a few seconds, making sure that Phym didn't see her leave. She wanted the girl to let loose for once and not worry about her life, the Aragami or any other kind of impending doom. God only knows she deserved that. Leah closed door of the lobby behind her and stepped out into the main room of the Chrysantemum. Quietly she walked up behind Hugo, snaking her arm around his left one and intertwining their hands together.

Hugo smiled at the gesture and shifted so that his shoulder slightly bumped into hers and he was leaning against her.

„You okay?" she asked him with a only a small hint of worry in her voice.

„Yeah. I've just .. been thinking, you know."

„About what?"

„What's next. Where do we go from here on out? What's our next mission, our next purpose?"

Leah thought about his words for a moment before giving his hand a squeeze.

„I don't know what's next. Neither do you, or Hilda, or Phym or anyone else. But ... that's okay. We're together. We're a family."

She paused, searching for her next words to say.

„Hugo. There is only one thing that I know for absolute certain..." She took a deep breath and looked at Hugo. „Wherever you are is right where I belong."

Hugo's eyes widened at the almost there confession. A smile formed on his lips and he turned around to use his other arm to bring them closer together. With his left hand holding hers and his right arm snaked around her waist, he leaned down to meet her lips yet again.

This time it was sweeter. More calm, more collected. Content.

Their lips met again and again, until Leah slowly parted from him to wrap both her arms around him and engulf him in a proper hug.

„_With you is right where I belong."_ she repeated as a whisper and in turn Hugo planted fleeting kisses on her soft hair, squeezing her even tighter.


End file.
